Watching sky, watching ground

Steve was away all day, caddying for his 12-year old grandson. (Did I just hear a chorus of "awwwwws"?) Anyway, he came home exhausted and has decided not to pursue caddying as a new career opportunity. Just so you know.

I taught the girls at Juvenile Hall how to create simple mandalas today. A couple had heard the word, but no one had the vaguest idea as to what a mandala might be.

Because we spend so much time in there discussing emotions it's important to give them lots and lots of tools to regulate their own feelings. They've got fighting and screaming down cold; I wanted to expand from there.

And since we add at least one page to their art journals each session I thought they'd enjoy learning a little about how to construct small mandalas when they want to calm down or just chill.

I told them that the circle is a symbol of wholeness so whenever they sit quietly and construct a mandala they are taking one more step towards becoming whole. They liked that concept. I think we'll stay on this topic for a couple weeks so they can really grasp it.


Steve was way too tired for an evening walk so I corralled Youngest Daughter to at least walk around the block with me and two of the dogs. Back on our own turf I snapped this photo of Steve's geranium barrel, his favorite plant on earth, and then watched the sun drifting behind the mountain.